The Delhi government has directed three of the hospitals run by it to set up isolation rooms for the management of suspected and confirmed cases of mpox, officials said on Tuesday. No confirmed cases of the virus, however, have been detected until now, they said.
“Three Delhi government hospitals — Lok Nayak Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital, and Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital — have been directed to set up isolation rooms for the disease. While Lok Nayak Hospital has been designated as the nodal facility, the two other hospitals are on standby,” a senior Health Department official said.
The Lok Nayak Hospital will have a total of 20 isolation rooms for patients, including 10 for confirmed cases. GTB and Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospitals will have 10 rooms each for such patients, including five each for confirmed cases.
The official said that there was no need to panic as the government is fully prepared. “There are no cases as of now. We are fully alert and monitoring the situation,” he added.
All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Tuesday issued a standard operating procedure for mpox, stating that while cases are being referred to Safdarjung Hospital, AIIMS will have an isolation ward or holding area for patients as well.
It stated that upon arrival, patients displaying mpox symptoms or having reported contact with the virus should be assessed. “Safdarjung Hospital has been designated for managing and treating mpox patients. Accordingly, any patient suspected of having mpox should be referred to Safdarjung Hospital for further evaluation and treatment.”
Five beds, however, have been assigned as a temporary holding area at AIIMS for patients until they are shifted to Safdarjung Hospital, the SOP stated.
Rising casesMpox, a viral zoonosis with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, has been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organisation in view of its prevalence and spread across several countries in Africa.
An earlier statement by the WHO had stated that 99,176 cases and 208 mpox-related deaths have been reported from 116 countries since 2022. Last year, the number of global cases spiked, and the number of cases reported this year have already exceeded last year’s tally at 15,600 cases and 537 deaths.
Thirty cases of mpox have been reported in India since 2022. The last case was detected in March this year.
